The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 21, 2000
Filed:
Dec. 30, 1998
Ping Xue, Waukesha, WI (US);
Richard Aufrichtig, Mountain View, CA (US);
Michael Andrew Juhl, Waukesha, WI (US);
General Electric Company, Milwaukee, WI (US);
Abstract
Disclosed herein is a radiographic imaging system which performs system performance monitoring by (1) using automatic exposure control (AEC) components to predict the average image gray level; (2) obtaining measured average image gray levels from the portions of the X-ray detector situated in the X-ray shadow of the AEC components; and then (3) comparing the predicted and measured values. The predicted values are determined by use of a prediction model which is modified by a learning system over successive exposures to provide more accurate predictions. After the learning system has sufficiently developed the prediction model, the error between the predicted and measured gray level values may be monitored in later exposures and an error routine can be activated if the error exceeds a predetermined threshold. In this case, the error may indicate that system components in the imaging chain (e.g., the detector or AEC components) require maintenance.